Medicine and Science from The BMJ
Episodes
The US UK trade deal will cost the NHS billions, and only serve to increase pharma profits
01 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The new trade deal struck between the UK and US came into force in April. The deal will double the amount that the NHS spends on new medicines, by ...
MS drug controversy, adoption outcomes in Sweden, and the multi-factorial reality of Alzheimer’s
24 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A blockbuster MS drug undergoes FDA re-evaluation. We explore the story of Ocrelizumab, a treatment for primary progressive multiple sclerosis, follow...
The Trump administration is an international health emergency
17 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Covid 19 was the last Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Our guests in this podcast think that the Trump Administration should ...
The 15th strike, and bringing compassion back to A&E
13 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Coming up in this week’s episode: The 15th Strike: As the latest six-day walkout by resident doctors in England concludes, the BMJ's news team exami...
The unchecked rise of shisha tobacco cafes, and making breastfeeding stick
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The BMJ published a negative result this week. A new trial focuses on a peer support intervention for improving breastfeeding rates in the UK, but fin...
New Covid inquiry findings with Dr Kevin Fong, and invasive cosmetic procedures
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The UK Covid Inquiry released Module Three of its findings this month. It lays out in startling detail the lived experiences of NHS staff and patients...
How the war in Iran will disrupt medical supplies around the world
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Gulf states are not large producers of pharmaceuticals or healthcare products - but the oil they supply, and the transport infrastructure they hav...
Is the NHS in danger of making misinformation worse?
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The lure of health influencers and AI chat bots is strong. More and more people are placing trust in them to answer their health problems, misplaced t...
What should GP's make of the new NHS contract?
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr Katie Bramall, Chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, joins the podcast to discuss her concerns surrounding the new...
Household air pollution, Labour’s lag on child poverty, children forced to cope with conflict
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As public health officials warn about rising emissions from urban wood burning, a BMJ investigation finds that just under a third of UK councils in hi...
Measles is surging in 2026. From London to Texas, why are cases hitting a 30-year high?
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we investigate the alarming resurgence of measles across North America and the UK. While cases are falling across much of Europe and ...
Rethinking Cancer Survivorship and the Autism Gender Gap
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s episode, we challenge long-held medical narratives, starting with how the healthcare system manages life after a cancer diagnosis. Wh...
"We see coercion the other way... People cannot let go of their dying family" - assisted dying around the world
14 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The House of Lord's amendments to England and Wales assisted dying bill might be causing a constitutional crisis. Lords have tabled 1,277 amendments—...
How the internet hijacked our health
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Deborah Cohen's new book "How the internet hijacked our health" explores the profound impact of the internet on our wellbeing. In this conversation wi...
What access to GPs tells us about the NHS 10 year plan, and online gambling
31 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We’re 18 months into the Labour government, and their changes to the NHS are beginning to be felt. In the 10 year plan that they launched last year...
How much should doctors be paid? | BMJ Interviews Economist Richard Murphy
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
@RichardJMurphy, political economist and tax campaigner, joins Kamran Abbasi, Editor in Chief of The BMJ. In the UK an ongoing dispute betwe...
GLP-1 weight regain and doctors forced out of Gaza
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The class of GLP-1 agonist drugs including Ozempic gained a wide reputation for weight loss in 2025. However, it's well established that weight regain...
Could a Ministry for the Future solve the climate crisis? | Kim Stanley Robinson interview
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is available in video form on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cGrD47eZSk American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson joins Kamran ...
Christmas 2025 - neologisms, longevity and unexpected research
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for 2025’s festive fun! Practicing medicine can be a very visceral experience - and the English language can’t always adequately captu...
The shadow use of Gen AI in the consultation room
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we hear how Generative AI is making it into the consultation room - but not through NHS endorsed routes - surveys suggest that ⅔ of...
ADHD therapies, and the NHS gig economy
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is an enormous amount of research on treatment for ADHD - pharmaceutical and otherwise. But not all of those trials, or meta-analyses, are of hi...
The Covid Inquiry - special episode
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"Damning” and “unforgivable failures” is how some papers headlines reacted to criticism of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in the seco...
Special Ep - The Covid Inquiry
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"Daming” and “unforgivable failures” is how some papers headlines reacted to criticism of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson in the second ...
Climate, “car spreading”, and conflict
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the BMJ’s annual climate issue - and in this episode, we’ll be hearing about more ways in which climate mitigation is good for health. F...
Doctors against the far right
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Far right rallies have been held across the UK, culminating in a large parade in London where Elon Musk spoke. At the same time, politicians from acro...
The shaky science of the Q-collar, exercise for osteoarthritis, and patient choice.
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast The BMJ investigates Q-COLLAR, an American device that distributors claim can reduce brain injury from contact sports. Invest...
The difficulty of delirium diagnosis, the lack of agency in the 10 year plan, and Gaza wounds
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the podcast; In July this year, the Government published their 10 year health plan for England - A new analysis just published on B...
Doctors still have questions about the UK's assisted dying bill
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode: Assisted Dying moves closer to becoming UK law. The proposed legislation to allow people to end their own lives has moved throug...
Starvation in Gaza is a multi-generational disaster
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode: Rethinking how we measure the harm caused by the arms industry The life long, and multigenerational, impact of starvation in ...
CRISPR, stemcell banking, and a football world cup
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
CRISPR technology has revolutionised biological research, and for the first time it’s out of the lab and into the NHS, as NICE has approved its use ...
The pitfalls of home test kits
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve been in a high street pharmacy or supermarket recently, chances are you’ll have seen home test kits for all sorts of indications; blood ...
The Future for Physician Associates? | Prof. Gillian Leng
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Gillian Leng, President of the Royal Society of Medicine was asked to carry out an independent review into the role of physician and anaesth...
NHS 10 year plan dissected
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re focusing on the NHS. On the 3rd of July the UK’s Prime Minister, Kier Starmer finally announced the NHS’ 10 year plan. His Labou...
What are doctors demanding? | New BMA Chair, Tom Dolphin
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rebecca Coombes interviews Dr. Tom Dolphin, consultant anaesthetist and newly elected chair of the BMA Council. Watch this interview on our YouTube. ...
Time to rethink GP's advice on weightloss, and ticagrelor data doubts
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last December, The BMJ published an investigation into the 2009 PLATO trial - exposing serious problems with that study’s data analysis and reportin...
The plan for NHS league tables is bad, and will lead to unintended consequences
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we hear about ketamine addiction. It's in the news, but the rise in addiction amongst young people in the UK has caused concern for s...
Wellness industry lies, and preventative AI evaluation
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Devi Sridhar's new book “How Not to Die (Too Soon) - The Lies We’ve Been Sold, and the Policies That Could Save Us” is focussing on the way ...
Conflict in South Asia, and simplifying GRADE.
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recent escalations in the ever simmering tension between India and Pakistan brought us closer to conflict - conflict between two nuclear powers. For a...
Malaria free China, an academic medicine revolution, and retracted data's impact
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China was declared malaria free in 2021 - and we'll hear how persistence was key to their success, and what new technologies are available to help the...
The problem of prognostication in assisted dying.
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The UK government is debating legislation to allow assisted dying in England and Wales, which puts doctors at the forefront of deciding if their patie...
Trump is trying to destroy universities - Ashish Jha, Dean of Public Health at Brown University
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kamran Abbasi interviews Professor Ashish Jha, Dean of Public Health at Brown University and former COVID-19 pandemic advisor to President Biden. Watc...
Reducing benefits will not get disabled people back to work, and explaining overdiagnosis
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The UK’s chancellor has announced a £5bn cut to benefits, much of which will be borne by those on long-term disability allowance. Gerry McCartney, ...
What does the death of NHS England, and the western alliance, mean for health?
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, the prime minister has announced the disbanding of NHS England, Nigel Crisp - former chief executive of the NHS, explains why he thinks tha...
The data on physician associates in the UK, and speaking up in the NHS
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've just published a new rapid review on the safety and efficacy of physician and anaesthetic associates in the UK, which was commissioned to suppor...
Phil Banfield on the British Medical Association's plan to support doctors
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From pay restoration, to making sure there are enough training posts for resident doctors, the BMA has been busy. In this podcast, Kamran Abbasi, the ...
Combating disinformation, and time to stop spinal injections for chronic pain
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the BMJ's Medicine and Science podcast, editor-in-chief Kamran Abbasi discusses the urgent need to tackle disinformation in health,...
Why compassion isn't just nice, it's essential
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Providing quality healthcare is demanding, often stressful, and requires sustained effort. When resources are stretched and pressure mounts, compassio...
The industry playbook to combat public health, and FUTURE-AI
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week Rebecca Coombes is back with another big-food investigation, this time about fast-food giant MacDonalds subverting attempts to stop it openi...
Prehabilitation before surgery, alcohol's impact on clinical care, and life after a cardiac arrest
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Exercise and a better diet, prior to surgery, can improve outcomes. Daniel McIsaac, a professor of anaesthesiology from the University of Ottowa and l...
Can a deal be done to keep the US in the WHO?
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US out of the WHO. This would cut funding for the UN’s medical agency by one...
Conviviality and TV doctors, polar bear tales, and Christmas research
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the last podcast of 2024, Richard Smith, former editor of The BMJ and head of UKHACC will be making the case for being more convivial. Tina Korown...
Big food infiltration of UK Schools, and chocolate consumption and diabetes
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Conflicts of interest harm health, and a new investigation uncovers the infiltration of big food manufacturers into UK schools. Emma Wilkinson reports...
"Incredibly distressing and incredibly dangerous"- David Miliband on healthcare attacks, and staff turnover effect on patient outcomes
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, new research, which has looked at the impact staff turnover is having on patient outcomes. Giuseppe Moscelli, associate professo...
How MSF maintains neutrality in conflict zones
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re at the World Innovation Summit for Health, where we’re a media partner - the meeting is focussing on conflict, equity and resilie...
Conflict zones, women’s health research, and reimagining palliative care
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we speak to the doctor overseeing the WHO’s emergency response for the eastern mediterranean region - including Gaza, Lebanon, Suda...
Climate leadership - knowledge is power
19 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s an often cited statistic that if healthcare was a country, it would be the fifth largest carbon emitter. At The BMJ we want to change that, and...
Getting science into policy for gun control and NHS reform
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How science can be transformed into policy? One of the seemingly intractable issues when it comes to legislative change in the US is gun control. On...
Nutrition for health and conflicts of interests
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Under-nutrition harms health, but so does over-nutrition. The Bill and Melinda Gate’s foundation has just released their Goalkeepers' report - high...
Improving data for quality care when resources are stretched
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There's a real drive to strengthen quality of care in facilities around the world. However, no matter where you are, improving healthcare depends on ...
GPs' industrial action, and the olympians after the games
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The news that GPs in England have voted for industrial action has spooked the healthcare system - Katie Bramall-Stainer, the chair of the BMA's Genera...
Multi-cancer detection and NHS HIT Lists
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're questioning the effectiveness of the Galleri Test for early cancer detection with investigation authors Margaret McCartney and Deborah...
Ensuring an Olympic legacy, and fixing primary care
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Paris games have just started - and France has made a concerted effort to ensure that this year's Olympics will have a legacy of physical activity...
The patient issue
13 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We celebrate 10 years of patient and public partnership strategy at The BMJ with a patient-centred podcast. We ask how should the new Labour governmen...
Extending access for breast cancer, and epidural outcomes
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Women's Health, breast cancer screening, epidurals, and GP voices New U.S. guideline on breast cancer screening have been extended to women in their...
Large, plausible and imminent - time to take H5N1 seriously
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As increasing numbers of mammalian, and human, cases of H5N1 are documented we askShould we worry about a growing threat from “bird flu”? Wendy ...
Elections and health in India, the UK, and the USA
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, a general election has been called - and around the world, ½ the global population will be voting this year; so in this episode we’ll b...
The prospect of unemployed GPs
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the anticipation of a new government in the UK, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting will hit the ground running - with a winter season (and it'...
Fixing healthcare's workforce problems
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Where next for psychological safety? Amy Edmundson is professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. Her work on psychological...
Improving NHS gender identity services - Hilary Cass
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hilary Cass, the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, has spent the last 3 years collating the evidence for treatment of gender quest...
Derogation, an ultra processed food system, and catch up pay for the NHS
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Derogation, the way in which striking doctors can be recalled to the ward to protect patient safety, was agreed by NHS England and the BMA. Now, new d...
The future of the clinical relationship, code sharing, and a Nye-t at the theatre
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's podcast: How AI will affect the clinician-patient relationship? Our annual Nuffield Summit roundtable asks how the promise of tech ...
Retracting abortion papers, deafness in the clinic, and 70 years of a medical orchestra
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case on the approval of mifepristone for medical abortion - a case which could change the availability of the drug...
Heidi Larson on misinformation, the right exercise to reduce depression, and Breathtaking TV
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Social media, and the rate at which the online world is changing, is worrying - especially the speed at which health disinformation can speed around t...
A health and care emergency, the US constitutional weakness for pandemic response, ActionAid in conflict zones
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With a new logo, and new music, comes a revamped The BMJ Podcast. Every two weeks we’ll be bringing you a magazine style show, more variety and pe...
Christmas 2023 - performing medicine, and prescribing nature
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this festive edition of the BMJ podcast, we hear about what medicine can learn from music, when it comes to giving a convincing performance, and...
Oxytocin, clinical outcomes, and patient choice, in resource constrained settings
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an inherent tension between creating quality standards that are very clinically focussed, and standards which are very patient centred - esp...
Social connection is essential for health; supporting adolescent health and wellbeing
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this specially curated three-part podcast series from The BMJ, we explore the importance of community and connection to foster adolescent wellbeing...
Give children control; supporting adolescent health and wellbeing
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second episode of a special three-part podcast series that delves into adolescent health and wellbeing, focusing on creating a positive tr...
It’s time for an educational revolution; supporting adolescent health and wellbeing
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the final episode of this three-part podcast series from The BMJ, we dive into the vital topic of education for adolescents and how it influences t...
Insulin without refrigeration and the complexities of consent
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The December edition of the Talk Evidence podcast discusses the complexities of seeking consent from patients who are part of large data sets, and som...
The future of the winter ’flu season
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We were accepting of an increase in deaths every winter 'flu season, but Ashish Jha thinks that is not longer a tenable position. Lessons he learned d...
Low carb and cancer screening
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Each episode of Talk Evidence we take a dive into an issue or paper which is in the news, with a little help from some knowledgeable guests to help us...
Decolonising health and medicine: Episode 5 - Getting our house in order: Decolonising the British Medical Association
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Organisational and student leaders explore the responsibilities of the British Medical Association and The BMJ to understand and respond to its coloni...
Decolonising health and medicine: Episode 4 - How to transform global health institutions born of colonial eras
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leaders from academic and funding organisations discuss the transformative change required to overcome extractive and inequitable research practices i...
Decolonising health and medicine: Episode 3 - Common terrains of anti-colonial and feminist approaches to the politics of health
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
International health leaders discuss how feminist and decolonial advocates in health face similar resistance and attempts to sow divisiveness, and how...
Decolonising health and medicine: Episode 2 - Looking back to move forward: missing histories of the decolonisation agenda
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Experts discuss how failing to confront colonial pasts is linked to present lack of progress in global health equity, why health leaders need historic...
Decolonising health and medicine: Episode 1 - The colonial legacy in clinical medicine
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Healthcare leaders discuss the ways in which colonial-era bias and eugenics persist in today’s medical education and clinical practice in the UK and...
Planet centred care - How to talk about this stuff
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve heard throughout the series from people who have a passion for sustainability, and have successfully made changes in their organisations to re...
Planet centred care - Why doing less can be hard
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One element of sustainable healthcare is simply reducing the amount of healthcare you’re doing by not doing the things that are of no value to patie...
Planet centred care - Sustainable healthcare is better for patients
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Acting on climate change is often framed as having to give stuff up, to cost more money, to make sacrifices. Yet in healthcare we find the opposite ca...
Planet centred care - Sustainable healthcare is good for staff
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ooops! If you listened to episode 3 when it first came out you may have realised that the title didn't quite match the content. We've just updated the...
Talking overdiagnosis
16 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen and Juan are reporting from Preventing Overdiagnosis - the conference that raises issues of diagnostic accuracy, ...
Planet centred care - It’s all about working together
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Healthcare is a complex system, and if we want to make changes such as those needed for sustainable healthcare, we need to work across multiple teams,...
Planet centred care - Greening the gaze
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Planet centred care is new podcast series for the BMJ exploring issues related to environmentally sustainable healthcare, aimed at all clinicians, and...
The problem with trainees - The GMC’s National Training Survey results data
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our final episode of this season, we're going quantitative, with the newly released data on how trainees in the UK are faring. Each year the UK's G...
Ensuring the integrity of research, and the future of AI as authors
05 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this month's Talk Evidence, we're getting a little meta - how do we keep an eye on research to make sure it's done with integrity. Helen Macdonald ...
Taking on the van Tullekens; how Margaret McCartney changed their minds about COIs
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
They're the trusted public figures of the medical profession, but many of the most famous medics in the UK will have been approached by, and accepted ...
Talk Evidence - post pandemic pruning, breast cancer screening, and orphan drugs
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Joe Ross, and Juan Franco are back to update us on what's happening in the world of medical evide...
Pride in healthcare
18 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We're in pride month, and this year the celebration of LGBT+ people seems to be increasingly contentious. Healthcare's treatment of queer people has...
Doctor Informed - surviving in scrubs
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The culture which allows sexism to perpetuate in healthcare is no better illustrated than by The BMJ's investigation into sexual abuse in the NHS. How...